Son assaulted, now mom banned

The mother of a Southbridge Middle-High School student said the administration filed a no-trespass order against her because of her reaction to her son being assaulted by a schoolmate.

The parent, Laura Laboy, complained during the School Committee meeting Tuesday about officials’ handling of the alleged assault on her son last Thursday.

According to a police report, Ms. Laboy acted “out of control” at the high school after the alleged assault in which her son, a ninth-grader, suffered a concussion.

Ms. Laboy said she did not believe she was out of control.

Ms. Laboy said as of Tuesday night her son still had blurred vision from the assault. She asserted that there’s a problem with bullying at the school.

School Committee member Scott S. Lazo said yesterday that he was going to hold regular news conferences about problems at the school, which he said was “imploding.”

In an email to school officials that was provided to the Telegram & Gazette, Ms. Laboy said she received a call about the attack from the school nurse. The parent said she was told her son had been punched in the temple from behind four times.

Ms. Laboy said she went to the school but administrators were nowhere to be found, so she called for an ambulance and police.

A police summary indicated Ms. Laboy’s son and the alleged assailant had an ongoing problem, for which they had participated in mediation earlier in the fall. The statement said the other student punched Ms. Laboy’s son in the head several times, resulting in minor injuries. The report did not say if the injuries included a concussion. A detective also advised the mother about the process of seeking a criminal complaint for simple assault.

Ms. Laboy said she would go to court yesterday to pursue the complaint.. She said the concussion ended her son’s football season.

At the request of Principal Tammy M. Perreault on Friday, police issued a no-trespass order forbidding Ms. Laboy from entering the school and McMahan Field, the site of football games.

Ms. Perreault, who was promoted to principal this summer, could not be reached for comment yesterday.

In an interview yesterday, police Chief Daniel R. Charette said he spoke with the school resource officer and believes the school followed the proper protocol in handling the incident.

Superintendent Eric D. Ely said he was out of town last week at a conference. But he said he’d spoken with the principal and administrators and was assured that all student discipline would be handled according to the student code of conduct. He said the administration was on top of the issue.

Ms. Laboy said her son doesn’t want to return to school because he is afraid.

School Committee Chairman Patricia Woodruff said the issue is a personal matter that should be resolved between Ms. Laboy and Mr. Ely in private.

Mr. Lazo said he was baffled. He said that some teachers have told him this has been the most violent two to three months of their careers.

The police chief, who was not at the School Committee meeting Tuesday night, said he did not agree. The chief said he remembered weeks in which four ambulance trips were made to the former high school. The new Southbridge Middle-High School on Torrey Road opened in September.

This year, the chief said, “there have been some interactions, no question.”

Mr. Lazo said that lately the committee has tried to make meetings “run a certain way, where things can’t be said in public.”

To combat this, he vowed to hold regular news events about the school.

Committee member Lauren McLoughlin said that legal reasons, rather than lack of concern or interest, precluded the committee from speaking more about some parents’ concerns.

School board member Tanja Dominko said the public school system was not the FBI or CIA, and with the exception of collective bargaining and personnel, most of what it handles can be aired in public.

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